Felicity

I wonder if the reviewers who raved about how they loved it when they were 13 years old, have seen this one in the last 25 years. Being addicted to late 70's/80's soft-core of the "Emmanuelle" variety, i had to hunt this one down. "Felicity" is nothing more than another wanna-be "Emmanuelle," but lacks the European style of those Italian and French cult films. The lead actress, played by Glory Annen is an absolute bore compared to Euro goddesses Laura Gemser and Sylvia Kristel. She is more of the plain, girl next door type, but perhaps this is deliberate? Penthouse bimbo Joni Flynn is a bit sexier, with a more exotic and Asian look, but gave the most hysterically bad acting performance i have ever witnessed. A sexy woman, maybe, but too cheap-looking, and dizzy to be taken seriously as Felicity's "sexual counselor." The men fare no better here. Felicity's love interest is an Aussie dude who is wearing more mascara than his female companion, and the actor is a little too old to play the part he is playing. And the guy who takes her virginity is a typical, oily creep of an older man. The worst thing of all, is the film seems somewhat racist; A white girl from Australia, travels to exotic Hong Kong, to have sexual encounters... with white people! What's wrong with Asians? She should have just stayed in Australia. What could have been a fascinating study of a young Western girl discovering the erotic mysteries of the Orient, turns out to be boring, typical exploitation, a film that is too timid to take any risks. But nothing is more miserable than the soundtrack, particularly the main theme, which is played over, and over, and over again; "She ain't Mama's little girl no more.." The only plus to this film is the beautiful Hong Kong scenery, which is the best thing this has to offer. Also, technically speaking, "Felicity" is a well-made film, and does feature some good erotic scenes. A missed opportunity, this could have been a classic in more competent hands.

I first saw this film back in the eighties and I still consider it to be the most erotic film ever made. Filmed on location, production values are high. Our eponymous heroine travels from her convent school, filmed at the artists' community at Montsalvat, Eltham, then Healesville train station, Victoria, in Australia to stay with her aunt in Hong Kong. There she meets the people who awaken her latent sexuality. All the female actors are incredibly gorgeous in a natural girl-next-door sort of way, especially Glory Annen who plays the lead. She spends a fair amount of time bathing and showering so the director certainly knew his job. Felicity offers a refreshing naturalness compared to the pumped up plasticity of modern erotica. Thoroughly recommended - naturally.

If Merchant Ivory had set out to make a Russ Meyer's style film, this would be the result. The movie manages to walk a tightrope between it's brainless-ness, it's soft core porn, it's paper thin "plot" and somehow through it all doesn't come off as exactly sleazy. Calling it "sensual" feels wrong and somehow lends it more credibility than it probably deserves but all the same it's not exactly crass either. A weird little balancing act that pays off by being, if not great, than something better than the filmmaker's intended. Not good, not bad, just is.

I enjoyed this mostly - not for the sex scenes which were par for the course, but as a 70s time capsule. I liked the protagonist, Felicity- she was pretty but not gorgeous, naive but sexy too. The story was a bit silly but I enjoyed the scenes in Hong Kong, especially the contrast between the rich and touristy areas and the poor people living on the water. I imagine too that girls and women would have been treated in ways portrayed here in the late 1970s (I was a child then). In all, it was a decent watch, mainly as a kind of snapshot of those days - I also liked the clothes! I gave a reasonable 6 stars out of 10.

With no knowledge of what to expect from this film but reading the plot description and having somewhat of an idea, it was certainly more explicit than it presented itself as. There is very much a plot but perhaps a lot more explicit and nude scenes than ought to be. It is very much a coming of age film with the lead title character of Felicity having a very quick sexual awakening.

Everything felt as it, it occurred quite quickly and very easy for Felicity. Where at an instance she was raped by her older driver yet didn't seem to care, notice or tell her friend. The sceneries of Hong Kong look well and are nicely shot. The way she randomly met the love interest in the end was rather odd yet plausible. Right place at the right time type of incident. A lot of the film is quite predictable with the change of an innocent young naive teenager (said to be 17) transformed to very eager craved. The film is very close to soft core but it's presented in a rather art house way.